DC Latching Solenoid Valves

A DC latching valve is what you specify when there is no power at the valve. The solenoid takes one short pulse from a battery or solar controller to open and another to close, and draws nothing in between, so a remote block, a hoop house across the road or a bench that moves every season can be automated without trenching 24 V wire.

Most of the valves here are the same body the manufacturer sells with an AC solenoid, with the coil swapped. What separates them is minimum flow, how they behave at low pressure, body material and whether the valve can also reduce or sustain pressure. Settle those four things and the choice is obvious.

Which latching valve fits the zone: drip bench, container block or mainline?

Start with the flow the zone actually draws. Below its rated minimum a diaphragm valve will not seat or regulate reliably, and changing the solenoid does nothing to fix that.

For a single bench, a propagation house or a small container block on drip or micro-sprinklers, look at the small plastic valves with a low minimum: the Superior 450 is rated from 0.075 gpm, the Netafim Series 80 in 3/4" and 1" from 0.01 gpm, and the Hunter PGV 1" from 0.2 gpm. The Bermad IR-210 in 3/4" and 1" covers the sizes most greenhouse and nursery zones actually use.

For a field block or a manifold feeding several laterals, step up to the larger bodies: the Bermad IR-110-DC from 1½" to 4", the Hunter ICV to 3", the Rivulis V2000 to 6" and the red brass Superior 950 from 3/4" to 3". The brass 950 and 950A start at 5 gpm, so they belong on a mainline or a sprinkler block, not a drip zone.

For a mainline shutoff ahead of the zone valves, the Superior 3200 master valve has no minimum flow requirement, which matters because a master valve has to seat whatever the system happens to be drawing. Two exclusions are worth knowing before you plan around them: the low-flow Superior SPVLF is AC only, and the normally open 3300 master valve has no latching option.

What do the controller, the water pressure and the site need to be?

Match the solenoid to the controller first, because the lines specify different pulses. Superior's are specified for a 9–24 V DC pulse of 30–50 ms, Rivulis fit a 9 V DC latching solenoid, the Netafim Series 80 runs on 12 VDC, and the Bermad valves take Bermad's own S-392-T-2W, S-392-T-3W or S-982-3W latching solenoids. Hunter's PGV and ICV are built for Hunter's battery-powered controllers. Ask us which valve fits the controller you own; our DC and battery controllers are on their own page.

Check the pressure at the valve, not at the pump. A single-chamber valve needs enough upstream pressure to close, so the Bermad IR-210 and IR-21T are rated from 10 psi and the Superior plastic and brass valves from 15 or 20 psi depending on model. Where a gravity tank or a long low-pressure feed runs the block, the Bermad double-chamber IR-110-DC series is fully powered both opening and closing and works down to 7 psi, as does the Netafim Series 80.

Filter ahead of the valve. Every valve here works through a diaphragm and a small control passage, and grit in that passage is a common reason a battery valve fails to close. Keep the controller and solenoid out of standing water in the box. If you need to run a zone by hand during a battery change, the Bermad Trio solenoid keeps a three-position manual override at the valve and the Rivulis V1000 keeps its manual throttling knob.

The mistakes we see, and how Bermad, Netafim, Rivulis, Hunter and Superior differ

The first mistake is treating latching as a valve type rather than a solenoid option. It is the same diaphragm valve with a different coil, so minimum flow, pressure range and filtration rules still apply. The second is ordering a plain latching valve for a block that also needs pressure control. Bermad's IR-120-DC and IR-130-DC combine pressure reducing or sustaining with the latching pulse in one body, the Hunter PGV pairs with Accu-Sync, and the Netafim battery-operated valve can carry pressure reducing on the same body. The third is a dead battery in July; calendar the change.

The lines take different approaches. Bermad treats it as a control valve: double-chamber options that run at low pressure, and pressure functions on the same body. Netafim puts the controller on the valve; the Aqua Pro mounts to a Series 80 and runs off one 9 V battery, so one hoop house needs no wire, and the latching solenoid goes on any nylon, PVC, iron or bronze Netafim body. Rivulis keeps the V1000 manual throttling knob and takes the V2000 out to 6". Hunter's PGV and ICV are the standard bodies with the latching solenoid fitted, the ICV rated continuously to 220 psi. Superior has the widest body choice, plastic 450, SPV and LCV, red brass 950 and 950A and the 3200 master valve, all on one 9–24 V DC pulse spec, and the LCV is 2-wire compatible for decoder systems. Ask us about the block, then request a quote.